Letters: East Bay should prepare now for refinery closure

Submit your letter to the editor via this form Read more Letters to the Editor East Bay should prep now for refinery closing Re Oil refinery delivers intent to idle notice Page A April News of the feasible closure by April of the Valero refinery in Benicia came as a shock to residents and has been a major topic of conversation here Benicia city executives put Valero tax revenues at - of the city s annual budget which could represent a major hit to populace safety park maintenance and other services Other refineries in Southern California are slated for viable or certain closure as well The upside of refinery closures will ultimately be a cleaner conditions with fewer climate-related disasters However this will present formidable financial difficulties for refinery employees and local governments at this time dependent on their revenue Workable revenue replacements include solar facilities and other cleaner industries Local governments and state lawmakers and policymakers as well as workers who could be displaced still have time to start planning for a post-refinery era Christine Stevens Benicia Trump DOGE must stop cutting critical services I read lately that Donald Trump and DOGE are cutting the funding that helps the National Weather Function to collect and publish its forecasts While we in the Bay Area may not see an immediate effect this will be felt elsewhere in the nation We have numerous establishment programs that provide valuable services to the society without our understanding their value Much of this work can be considered akin to regular or routine maintenance on a car Without this the car will continue to run for a time but then break down leaving you stranded and subject to costly repair bills For constituents agencies this information allows them to warn us of coming storms Don t cut this life-saving utility Roger Wood Fremont Let s devote guidance to tuition on Africa On May the Political Science Department of Diablo Valley College held a meeting in observance of Africa Day with the theme of providing educational opportunities to African and African American students Academics professionals and students participated and emphasized that while the world was facing wars and armed conflicts it is high time for the United Nations the states academic institutions and individuals to demand that tuition as an instrument of peace devote more efforts and materials to learning Africa has suffered from colonialism and apartheid and helping it must be prioritized The same principle must be applied to African American students According to statistics African American students need more information and opportunities Regime tools should be used to provide instruction Communities must demand that elected officers devote attention and support to these urgent goals and requirements I hope there will be a response Amer Araim Walnut Creek Alcatraz a perfect landing spot for Trump Re Reopening Alcatraz no easy task Page A May So Donald Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz Prison shuttered in due to enormous costs This is an excellent idea with a twist If and when justice is ever served and Trump is incarcerated for his a great number of crimes it would be fitting that he be rehomed there within those decaying rusty walls all alone His living areas could be retrofitted with floor-to-ceiling mirrors so he can continue his self-adoration day and night And just think of those magnificent -degree views all around for his personal enjoyment too A home like no other a Mar-a-Lago West For the doubtful reading this there is precedent Spandau Prison Germany s where high-ranking Nazi Rudolf Hess was housed all alone in his final years Marilynn Gray-Raine Danville Walters columns make monotonous placeholder I m tired of seeing Dan Walters in the Opinion section of the East Bay Times multiple times a week Walters never-ending haranguing of the Legislature and particularly of Gov Newsom is beyond tiresome Dewayne Guidinger Concord Admission of Afrikaners mocks refugee system Re Trump authorities seek to bring st White Afrikaner refugees to U S Page A May The article outlines the Trump executive order allowing the admission of White Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees Related Articles Letters Parents must not abdicate responsibility to social media Letters San Ramon has a chance to set its state curriculum Letters DOGE s cuts to IRS will prove costly Letters To honor mothers do more to stem overdose deaths Letters President Trump s Alcatraz plan is just another pipe dream This right-wing version of White privilege ignores the hundreds of thousands of true refugees waiting years for shelter in the United States It wants all of us to ignore the centuries of colonial theft of African lands and decades of racist South African apartheid polices denying Black Africans full rights of citizenship ownership of land and freedom of movement Redistribution of stolen lands is appropriate and still does not rectify the massive ownership of the South African business sector by Whites This attempts to erase the racist past of the White society It is promoted by South African Elon Musk I remain embarrassed as an American with our Whites only immigration policies The Statue of Liberty weeps Scott Loeliger Benicia